5 Traits You Should Look for in a Private Investigator

There are important facts we don’t know about the people around us, as our skills and time may be limited. Yet knowing the truth can tell us whether the people we interact with should be trusted. Whether you want to know if your spouse is cheating on you or you want to do a background check on your associates, you would be better off using the services of an excellent private eye. To ensure that you do get a reliable investigator, you need to ask about his career, personality, and love for his field. All of these questions would be able to help you determine if he possesses these qualities of an excellent private eye.

1. Trustworthiness

Among the qualities a private investigator must possess, integrity is most important. A detective should do what’s right and understand that he must never distort the evidence to support a theory. The main reason you’re seeking the help of an investigator is to know the truth, and an investigator who doesn’t produce a report based on facts can’t help you know what’s true. For instance, if you hire a dubious private investigator to find out if your partner is philandering, he might simply fabricate the evidence to fit your gut feeling. And when you confront your partner about the said issue, your relationship will be destroyed unreasonably.

A trustworthy investigator should also respect the confidentiality of his clients’ cases. So before hiring one, ask about details of his previous clients. From here, you may get a glimpse of how he handles confidential information. Indeed, how could you trust an investigator who discloses the names and cases of his previous clients freely?

2. Persistence

Being a private eye is not a simple task. Accumulating evidence, doing surveillance on people and interviewing individuals require a lot of persistence and patience. Making sense of all of the data gathered would require a lot of hard work as well.

In fact, determination is what separates successful private investigators from mediocre ones. A private eye who doesn’t have the will to constantly monitor the person he’s investigating might miss important clues to what that person might be up to. Also, if he fails to methodically take note of patterns in the case he’s investigating, he would be overwhelmed by data and give up quickly.

On the other hand, a persistent investigator who spends a lot of time to carefully study the subject and monitor his movements meticulously would be able to get relevant clues that may help solve the case. He would use a lot of his personal time to turn the numerous pieces of evidence into a compelling report.

Ask about his operations, like how he handles information or how he goes about certain situations. Going through a scenario would also help you picture out his perseverance.

3. Passion

Choose an investigator who loves what he does. Passion motivates him to solve his cases and give reasonable accounts of his investigations. A passionate investigator would wake up in the wee hours of the night to study a case’s details before going back to sleep. Through the aid of his subconscious, he would likely come up with a new approach to a tough case by the time he wakes up. His motivation and love of his profession also allows him to craft ingenious strategies that could solve complex cases.

You may ask him how long he has been in the industry, how he found himself doing this, and why he does it for a living. These can be indicators of his passion for the job.

4. Creativity

There are instances when regulations and circumstances hinder a private eye from easily gathering the data he needs. As such, he must be creative to gather the pieces of evidence necessary for solving the case. For instance, if he’s tasked to follow and observe the movements of a suspect, he should think of a way to do so covertly. If he’s tasked to interview people, he has to formulate creative questions leading to the truth without exposing his investigative role.

5. Friendliness

Being sociable allows a private investigator to hide his function as an investigator and appear as a harmless person to suspects or individuals under investigation. By being friendly, he can win the trust of the person under scrutiny and even learn that person’s secrets. He would also have an easier time talking to informants and gain their trust as well. As such, he could gather information without suspicion.

Discovering the truth about the people around us could be difficult if we do it by ourselves. As such, hiring a private eye can be of much help. However, do remember to select an excellent private investigator, one who possesses these five traits.